When The Blackrock We Know Is Gone
by CloseToSomethingReal
Summary: This is a collaboration with my amazing friend Ginger Aflame. She's an awesome person and an awesome author! Lana thought it was just a game. But now she's stuck in crazy world with almost no memory, and a psychopath named Lalnable Hector out to kill everyone. That is, according to the Technomage/mancer she met... Xephmadia, Zoethian,
1. Chapter 1

** Hello, Hello. It's Featherflower here, writing my first collab with my amazing friend and amazing author, Ginger Aflame. And somehow, I'm doing this without having read Gone. Lol. But Ginger has, so that's not a problem. May be slightly AU.**

***Enderside is something our friend SpiritedandLoyal came up with, as well as the Enderborn ideas, which I'll get into later, abut anyways, I kind of stole it, because I'm a noob, like, Fem Toby, and I read her fanfiction thinking it was all cannon, and I wrote a Fanfiction and didn't feel like changing it when I finished watching The Tekkit Adventure, (I watched them in the wrong order,), but I finished watching them and didn't want to change it because it was so perfect, so now I use it as well. Mine is only slightly different from hers, though his Enderborn abilities _do _vary. Thanks Spirit!***

**Guide:**

_/Italic with /\ around it: Rythian's mental voice. (Would be Italic and Underlined, but Underline doesn't stay on these documents when you have to do Copy'n'Paste)\_

_/Italic with / around it: Zoey's mental voice./_

**~Featherflower**

I don't know why I bothered to check the computer. The internet hadn't worked since the dome had gone up. So why did I still want to pull out my laptop, and, well, you know. Catch up on what was going on in the rest of the world. All that jazz.

But, something was different this time. I was going to just log onto Facebook, or try to load it, at least. But a new screen was open when I turned on the computer. A game. I clicked play, and it asked me to put in a username. I laughed, and put in Lana-Banana, because it rhymed, and my nickname was too strange to use.

**Loading…. **The screen read. I giggled, wondering what the game what going to be like.

**Pick a server. **The game told me. There was only one available, so I clicked that one without reading what it said.

**Loading… **As I read that, a strange feeling rolled over me. Where was I again? I blinked, once, twice, and my surroundings changed. Green grass covered the ground. Hills and rivers were visible. I was falling. I didn't remember how I had gotten here. I knew my name though. Lana. Lana-Banana, as a joke.

I hit the ground, wincing in pain.

"What the hell?" A male voice, heavily accented, rang out. "Who's that?" I tried to sit up, but I was winded and in pain. I brushed my fingers over my legs first, as they were crumpled underneath me and hurt the most. The pain faded. The ground pounded beneath me, as if someone were shaking it.

"Who, why is she here?" A girl's voice this time. Still accented, but not the same sound.

"Zoey, if I knew that answer, would I be asking you who she was? I don't know why she's here!" The man answered. He pronounced the 'Z' in Zoey like and 'S', so it sounded like he said Soey.

The pounding stopped, and a shadow was cast over me. One of them had ran over when I had fell.

The girl, Zoey, leaned over me. She had shoulder length hair, which was a startling red colour, with a green streak on the one side. She wore a gray crop top with bright green netting between that and her black shorts, which stopped just above her knees. Her shoes were knee high boots that were the same colour green as the netting. Her eyes were blue and kind, though one of them was covered by some sort of green spy glass. Her cape was such a dark red it was almost black and was so short it didn't even reach her waist, hung off to one side, barely visible. She smiled at me.

"Hello there! I'm Zoey!" She held out her hand to help me up. I gripped it, and almost shrieked when I realized it wasn't flesh and bone that I had just grabbed, but rather, smooth, cold metal. I jerked my hand back. Zoey just laughed.

"Oh. Sorry about that." She held out her other hand, which was thankfully an actual arm. I stood up with difficulty.

"W-what happened to your arm?" I gasped.

"I got caught in an explosion." She said lightly. "But it wasn't a problem. I could eat a nuke for breakfast! And there were only three nukes."

"_Only _three nukes?" I echoed.

The man walked over then. The moment I looked at him, he scared me. And I'd seen some pretty terrifying things before, yet this man was one of the scariest. "Zoey, aren't you going to ask _her _your questions?" He asked the red head. I heard Zoey start talking, but my eyes and thoughts didn't leave the mysterious man. He was very tall, almost a head above me. The lower half of his face was completely covered by a black mask. A long black cape hung from his shoulders to his feet. A long red sword hung at his belt. His armour was the colour of dried blood. His hair was brown, but it had a strange blond streak on one side. But easily, the most terrifying part was his eyes. They were _purple._ Like, lilac, with an icy glare in them. His face was hard and cruel. Unyielding. If I proved to be an enemy, Zoey might hesitate to kill me. This man…

"Well?" He asked suddenly, startling me.

"Huh?" Right! Zoey'd been talking to me!

"Zoey asked you where you're from, and why you're here. And your name." He told me.

"Ha ha. Funny thing is, I don't remember where I'm from. I just fell out of the sky. And I don't know why I'm here. But my name's Lana." I told him.

"How do you not _remember _where you're from?" The man demanded in a cold voice. My throat went dry. Zoey seemed nice, but this man seemed like he'd stab me with his sword before he'd trust what I said.

"Rythian…be nice to her. I've fallen out of the sky before, and it's not fun! And I landed in the water. She landed in the sand. At least bring her into the Stronghold and fix her up before we play twenty questions." Zoey told him. I assumed that the man's name was Rythian.

Rythian sighed. "Why does this always happen to me? Fine. Lana, come with me. Zoey, go grab the healing potions and any of the sciency stuff that will help. And Zoey, for the record, you knew where you were from. Tekkit-Topia, the old world." He gripped my arm a little roughly. Once I stood up, he turned towards where a castle and a strange looking green tower stood in the middle of the desert.

As Rythian walked, he talked. Slowly and guardedly at first, but he got a little more open as we went.

"Well, since you don't remember where you're from, you should know where you are. This is Tekkit-Topia, a small part of Minecraftia. Zoey and I have a stronghold here, obviously. Caber Town is that way," He pointed to one of the cardinal points. "And if you go _really far _that way, you'll find Lalna's castle."

"Who?" The name had sounded like mine.

"Lalna. And any other survivors will be there too. Unless they've escaped. Like we have." He said darkly.

"Survivors?" I questioned. Rythian sighed.

"This isn't the place to talk about it." He told me. The rest of the walk passed in silence. Rythian's hard grip never left my arm.

I was rather relieved when Zoey came back, her arms full of vials and all sorts of other things. Her hair was in face, and she nearly ran into Rythian before he stopped her and brushed it away.

"Oh! That's much better. Thanks, Rythie!" Then she turned to me.

"Where does it hurt the most?" She asked. "You fell from the sky, so don't tell me you aren't hurt."

"Well, I'm pretty sore, but…how do I say this? I have powers. Healing. I healed my legs after I fell." I told them. They didn't look surprised.

"To be honest, Lana, that doesn't even make my top 10 weirdest things I've ever heard list." Rythian told me.

"Well, I don't think the healing makes my list either. But I don't remember. I don't remember anything." I told them.

"But, I guess I don't need those." Zoey decided, dumping her armload into a chest that was just outside the door.

We walked into the Stronghold, which Zoey told me she had decorated.

"What were you saying about survivors?" I asked. Zoey's shoulders slumped.

"Well, it all started with a whole big meeting thing, with Lalna, Sjin, Minty, Kim, Xephos, Honeydew, Sips, Martyn, Strippin, Nilesy, Ravs, Sparkles*, Beckii, Kaeyi, Lomadia and Toby. Oh, we were there too. Lalna-" I cut the girl off.

"Wait. Honeydew? Xephos? Are those their real names?" I asked. I'd never heard names like those. And Sjin? Sips? Minty?_ SPARKLES*_?

"Well, no. We have real names...some of us. Honeydew, Xephos, Lalna, Strippin, Lomadia. They're actually, in that order, Simon, Lewis, Duncan, Sam, Hannah. The rest of us, those are our real names." He spoke nonchalantly about this while he removed his armour and set out to scrub the grime out of the grooves in it. He looked a lot less terrifying in black slacks with rips in the knees, black leather boots and a gray tank top then he did in armour.

"That's not true. You forgot about me. Zoeya!" Zoey interupted.

"Yes, right. Anyways, we were getting along okay, and Minty suggested we go to her bar, the Captive Creeper, for a few drinks. Lalna had a few to many, turned into Drunkan, which just our joke because his name is Duncan and he'd drunk. Anyways, no one notice a real problem, until the day after, Minty was found dead in her bar. Sjin came here to get me to help find out who did it, because, well, Zoey's good with computers, and I have a gift at finding information. The day I figured out what happened, Sjin was murdered. And it just got worse from there." Rythian told me. "The only reason Lalna hasn't found is because we're far away from the others. Same with Ravs. Nilesy used to come around, but he hasn't lately, and I'm thinking he's likely dead."

Zoey gasped, whirling around to face Rythian. "The Pool Boy? Oh my goodness! Why would he kill Nilesy? And, if he's dead, who's taking care of Baby Jim?" She asked.

"Zoey. There's a murderer over there. Baby Jim will have to fend for himself. And back in the days of respawning, _everyone _except us killed Nilesy." That made no sense to me, but I decided to question the Baby Jim later. And the respawning thing. I had more important issues.

"So, who did it?" I asked fearfully.

"…Lalna. Lalnable Hector." He answered after a long pause.

"Who now?" I demanded.

"Lalnable Hector. Lalna's psychopathic counterpart." He told me, like that was perfectly normal. He was obviously happy with the state of his armour, because he put it back on, strapping the greaves and cuffs onto his arms and legs and fitting the chest plate on. Instantly, he looked fierce and scary again. For some reason, the head piece looked more like a blood covered crown then actual armour.

"O-kay!" I muttered.

"Things are a lot different here." Zoey told me.

"I figured that out." But at the same time, some things they were saying, I felt like I'd faced something similar before. Why did I feel like that?

"Lana?" Zoey asked, sitting down on one of the several wooden chairs. I realized we were in a kitchen, but a quite technologically behind kitchen. No microwaves- wait. What was a microwave? Where had that thought come from? I dismissed it as nothing and glanced back at Zoey.

"What's wrong? And Rythian, close the door already." She scolded. I turned around to see Rythian slamming the front door shut. He then stood in front of it, like a sentry. He still didn't trust me. After hearing what was going on here, I didn't blame him. My name, also, was a little too close to Lalna. Suspicious much? I wondered if I looked like him, too. It would be a problem if he had brown hair and hazel eyes.

"Well, I don't know. I thought I remembered something, but now I don't." I explained. Nodding thoughtfully, Zoey looked at Rythian.

"Know anything that could cause that?" She asked. Rythian shrugged his shoulders.

"Nope. And have you seen Tee?" He asked, glancing out the small window on the door.

"No. Do you think…?"

"Lalnable wouldn't stand a chance against Teep." Rythian told her.

"Who's Teep? Tee. Whatever his name is."

"Again. Here we go with the names. Can't someone have a nickname? Tee and Teep are the same person. Dinosaur. Whatever." Rythian sounded annoyed.

"Teep is a…dinosaur?" I stammered.

"Yep! And an excellent shot, as well. He's deadly with his arrows." Zoey told me, smiling. "There he is! Tee! Come in!"

The door opened, and Rythian moved away from the entrance so that the green dinosaur could enter. He had a gold monocle over one eye, for some reason.

"So, anyways. Can you handle this?" Rythian asked, retreating back to the door.

"Handle what?"

"Psychopaths, dinosaurs, and…what term do we use? Technomage or Technomancer?" He asked Zoey.

"I think you say Technomancer, and I say Technomage. Thankfully, that nuke Lalnable set off got alchemy to work again, so magic is officially back on track. Or else you would still be jealous." Zoey answered.

"I was never jealous of the science! And I started using it again, didn't I? Do you have any idea how hard that was? And Thaumonomicon was working, just not as well as alchemy did." Rythian snapped, his eyes narrowing and _glowing _softly, though he was grinning, so he really just looked like he was kidding. But the glowing eyes scary, so I turned away from him and looked at Zoey again.

"What we're asking is: are you going to panic at the first sight of blood, or are you going to be able to survive." Zoey told me.

"I can handle it." I promised. Zoey nodded, and glanced up to Rythian. I couldn't help but wonder if they were together. Really, the way they acted, they seemed to be together.

/_Focus, Lana. This is no time for daydreaming about my love life./_ I screamed. Rythian burst of laughing.

"Rythie…what did you do?" Zoey asked, glaring at the Technomancer, as he had called himself.

"Nothing you don't know I can do!" He answered.

"Rythian, you can do a lot of things. Exactly which one did you just do?"

/_Nothing! Not really, anyways.\_ His answer came in my head again.

"Rythian! At least warn her before you do stuff like that!" Zoey scolded.

/_Why? She should learn not to daydream! At least not as openly as she just did.\_

"Openly?" I asked, puzzled.

"I can read minds, Lana. If I really set my mind to it, I can read anyone's. But, some people make it really easy. You need to guard your mind better." He told me. I turned around to frown at him.

"And just how, Rythian, do I _guard my mind?_" I asked, sassing him already. He just rolled his eyes.

"Try to keep your thoughts in one spot in your mind, and focus on keeping you thoughts and memories locked away." He answered. I shook my head. How did that make sense to _anyone?_

/_Keep working on it.\ _I nodded, humouring him. Zoey giggled.

"You know she's not going to listen to you unless you show her _why _she should do that. And not just because you can read her mind." She told him.

"But I don't really like doing that. It confuses me, first of all, second, it reminds me of something unpleasant, and third, it's unbelievably painful for the person on the receiving end of it."

Zoey didn't say anything, but Rythian nodded. "Fair enough. I'll try that." Then he addressed me. "Lana, this is why you need to guard your mind. You warn me when you can't take it anymore, because it's not pleasant, and it's been done to me before. So I know first hand what it's like. With me, it happens all the time."

_/Wow Rythian. That was a lot to say about things you don't normally talk about./ _Another mental voice.

"Zoey? Was that you?" The red head nodded.

/_Well, Zoey, this is something that I respect and will treat with proper caution and give proper warnings. But that's all you're going to hear of that sort of thing, Lana.\_

I assumed he was talking about the "With me, it happens all the time" phrase. I wondered what he was going to do. I wasn't scared, per say, but I was very nervous.

Then I felt the icy claws dig into my head. I swallowed my scream, wanting to know what Rythian had been talking about.

The pain of the claws crackled through my head like frost. Everything about it was cold and painful. My fingers twitched. I didn't know why. Then my whole arm moved, waving at Zoey. My eyes shifted out of focus, and then back, but I wasn't the one controlling them.

/_This is why it's important.\_ Rythian told me. I tried to speak, but my mouth wasn't my own.

Then the cold, burning sensation left me, and Zoey caught me before I collapsed.

"What was that?" I demanded, my tongue feeling numb.

"If you don't guard your mind, anyone with the powers to do it can enter it and take over your body. I don't know if Lalna has that ability, but it's better to be safe then sorry." He said, his voice husky and strained. It took a lot of power to do that kind of thing. And he said he had a personal issue with it as well.

"Okay…" I said shakily, the shock of this setting in. Even my own head wasn't my own in this strange world.

"Rythian, you're scaring her." Zoey told him.

"She needs to be scared. We're in a world with a psychopath who wants nothing more but to kill everyone and likely eat them, or something like that." Rythian replied calmly, turning around and creaking the door open.

"Teep? I'm going out to scout around and collect some stuff. Want to come?" The dinosaur grabbed his bow, and followed the Technomancer out the door. I stared at Zoey.

"So, how's that for a welcome?"

**So, hopefully I didn't completely fail that. I had fun writing it though! Rythian is a **_**very **_**scary person... anyways, next chapter: Ginger's turn!**

**~Featherflower**


	2. Chapter 2

Roses are red, violets are red, grass is red, my lawn is on fire!

~Fiona Riches

**Hey guys it's Featherflower with some sad news, but I'll start with  
the good news. The good news is if you are reading this (Check now  
people, not later LOL) I FINALLY POSTED A NEW CHAPTER! And that brings  
me to the bad news. Half of this chapter was written by my amazing  
friend Ginger Aflame, but (a long time ago actually) she told me she  
couldn't write this story because she doesn't like Minecraft! (Pretty  
hard to write a Minecraft based story when you hate the game...) So I  
took over and was super lazy but here's the chapter.**

**Also, last chapter for another long while. As in, until September. Hopefully I'll have another chapter for September.**

**Also, I found a song for GONE and if you haven't heard it, go look it up  
The Kids in The Dark by All Time Low. That's all!  
~Featherflower**

Not too long after that, Zoeya showed me to a room in which I would  
be staying in. I think Rythian could probably care less about whether  
or not I stayed, so I guess that's why he went back outside or  
whatever.

I thought he told you to close your mind. Came the voice in my head  
again. It was one I'd learn to know well in the next while. She  
knocked on my door and came in.

"And besides, we need you to stay here, or else you might be captured  
by Lalnable Hector. His forms of torture are so extreme that you might  
spill the location of our whereabouts, even against your will. He can  
put you on the top of a mountain, lashing weights onto each of your  
limbs and sending them hurtling down the mountain. He can make you  
feel like you're so hungry that you rip every vein out of your wrists,  
clawing your skin to shreds with your nails, thinking they are  
liquorice. He is capable of giving you the worst hallucinations you  
will ever experience." Zoeya sat down on my bed. "Rythian knows this,  
that's why he's keeping you here, with us. Besides, deep down, he  
doesn't hate everyone..."

"You're in love with him, aren't you?" I knew I would never get  
answers from the technomancer himself, but maybe Zoeya would tell me about her side.

She didn't answer, but her face became almost as red as her hair, so  
I took that for a yes. It didn't surprise me, though I did have to  
assume that opposites attracted in this case. The male here didn't  
seem to have many redeeming qualities for Zoeya to like.

Oh, Notch. Oh Notch. Not another! Rythian's voice stabbed inside my  
head. I didn't like the feeling. It made me feel sick, and unclean.  
It... reminded me of something. Zoeya's voice, filled with panic, came  
immediately after.

What? What is it? She demanded, already standing up and running for the door.

He's sort of small, very frail looking with spiky black hair, I  
can't say about his eyes though, they're closed... Zoeya, get down  
here! Rythian sounded right pissed off about having another random  
stranger to look after. Really, could I blame him? They were dealing  
with a psychopath.

"Crap! I gotta go down there. How fast are you?" Not as fast as  
Brianna-wait, where did that come from? I thought. "We don't have  
time for this, let's GO!" And she took off down the stairs, leaving me  
to follow.

By the the third full 360 degree turn on the spiral staircase I was  
feeling a little sick. "Come on, Lana! Rythian's found someone else,  
maybe he's from where you are too!" Zoeya was already at the bottom of  
the stairs, waiting impatiently. I finally realized what would have  
been easier and jumped onto the railing, sliding down the bannister.

Together, we ran through the grass towards the only two blotches on  
an otherwise seemingly endless desert. One was tall, dark and looming.  
The other was slumped, and somewhat pale, like his essence had faded  
away.

By the time we got there, Rythian had hauled him to his feet. "He  
says his name is-"

"Toto." I said, out of nowhere. "The truth teller." Zoeya and Rythian  
looked at each other.

"How do you know that?" Zoeya eventually asked, breaking the silence.

I wracked my brain for an answer. Nope. Nada. Zilch. "I don't know  
why, or how. I've seen him before, though."

"She's telling the truth, Spidey," came a wavering voice, high  
pitched, like it wasn't fully developed. I assumed it was Toto's.

"What do you mean by 'truth teller'? And who is 'Spidey'?" Rythian  
demanded, irritated. "We don't want or need any visitors!"

"He's lying." Toto said, making Rythian even more outraged.

"Fine!" He snapped. "I fear that we may need you, because then the  
fate of Tekkit-Topia, our home, would be resting in the hands of two  
noobs that haven't even seen a nuke!"

"What do nukes have to do with anything?" Rythian sighed, shaking his  
head like the world was doomed already.

"What?" My voice was indignant. Why was it such a bad thing that I  
didn't understand these two's fixation with nukes? I was surprised by  
his sudden frustration with me, as well as Toto the truth teller.  
Normally, when people were frustrated with me, they didn't make it  
obvious. You didn't normally get mad at the one who could heal you.

But, wherever I was from, I wasn't the same person here. And here,  
Rythian's violet eyes were narrowed, and his expression said that the  
answer was simple and right in front of my nose.

Zoeya, on the other hand, was smiling at me. "Lalna blew up our home,  
using nukes." She explained. "Nukes are pretty basic war tools.  
Anyways, that's how I lost my arm! I thought I could diffuse it,"

"She's lying." Toto whispered, cutting the red haired woman off. Her  
companion didn't say anything, but he didn't look surprised. Just  
pained. And sad.

Either way, she'd said enough. I'd understood why nukes were important.

"Oh. Right. Sorry, Zoeya." She didn't smile this time, but she nodded.

"No problem." She replied weakly. Toto was not on his way to making  
friends here. Come to think of it, I probably wasn't either.

"Come on. Let's get you guys home." Zoeya tried. Rythian said  
nothing, he still seemed upset by what Toto had revealed.

I probably would have been too, not that I even knew if I knew  
anything about that subject.

Crap this was confusing. I didn't remember myself. Oh well.

When we got back to the Stronghold, there was a man waiting at the  
door with Teep the dinosaur. He was wearing a grey tank top and a red  
plaid kilt, had messy black hair, and a large, strange nose.

"Hey Ravs!" Zoeya said cheerfully. "Been waiting long?"

"Nah." He replied, his accent even broader than Rythian's, and  
different yet again. "Tee and I played a few rounds of the lever game,  
which I won- Ow! Tee!" Rythian may have smiled.

"I think Tee would beg to differ." He informed the man. "Anyways,  
come on in. We're sitting ducks out here! Okay, not really, but let's  
go anyways." He opened the door and let us all in.

"Who're they?" Ravs asked.

"These are Lana and Toto." Zoeya answered. "They fell out of the sky,  
sort of like I did."

"And you figure you can trust them?" Ravs didn't seem unkind, in fact  
he was more humorous then anything.

"Apparently," Rythian replied, "at least Zoeya does."

"And you're not going to argue with her, eh?" I decided I liked Ravs.

"Why does everyone say things like that?" Rythian cried, exasperated.

"He knows, Spidey."

"Toto. Shut up." The Technomancer growled, glaring the at boy. He seemed to be blushing a little. The truth-teller paled. "So, what brings you here?" Rythian turned back to Ravs as he said that.

"Well, mostly just news. Nilesy's back with Lom and Xephos and the rest of their gang, he's been injured, but quote on quote 'he should be fine.' Martyn, Toby and Kaeyi are all fine, same with Sparkles* and Beckii, and Parv. The others have been gone for a while now. Strife, I have no idea." Zoeya sighed in relief.

"So no new casualties?"

"None," Ravs confirmed, "anyways, want a drink?"

"Why not?" Rythian agreed.

"Eat lunch first, Rythie." Zoeya said absent-mindedly. He smiled.

"Of course, Zo." The Mage promised. Ravs snorted.

"Enough of that, Ravs." Rythian protested. "I really don't-" he stopped himself as Toto looked at him. "Never mind." Ravs just kept laughing.

"I like this kid! You can't deny anything around him!" The dark haired man told his friend.

"That's true." Toto confirmed.

The purple eyed man suddenly had business elsewhere, and ran off.

"So much for lunch and a drink!" Zoeya laughed. "Do you want anything to eat?" She addressed pretty much everyone. Ravs shook his head, but Toto and I nodded, and Zoeya grabbed a couple sandwiches out of a chest and handed them to us.

"Zoeya, I wouldn't tease Rythian too much. What do you reckon Toto would reveal about you?" The redhead grinned, seeming a little embarrassed.

"Lana didn't need Toto to tell her anything. And clearly, you don't either." She told the man.

"I really hope you don't need Toto to tell you about Rythian, either."

"That's his business." She said softly.

"Until he tells you, at least." Ravs snorted, and I decided Zoeya might need some help changing the subject.

"So, Ravs, what do you do around here?" I asked.

"Now?" He scowled. "Not much. I stay alive. Before, I ran a bar and was the mayor of CaberTown."

This man didn't strike me as someone who would be a good mayor. No one here really did.

/Is it safe for me to come back? I'm hungry!/ I frowned, already sick of his intrusions. I half-wondered what his reaction would be to someone's mind probing his.

/Don't even try it./ He warned.

\Now you're reading my thoughts!\ I snapped angrily. He didn't answer, but his presence retreated, and I thought I felt a hint of guilt from the Mage.

A few seconds later, Rythian reappeared from down the hall, and Ravs pretended not to notice. Or at least didn't start teasing again. I glared at him, and this time he wouldn't meet my gaze.

"Hey Rythie! Here's a sandwich." Zoeya handed him a something made of some weird form of meat between two slices of bread. I glanced at mine and saw it was made of the same thing. The meat looked rubbery.

"What is this?" I demanded.

"Well, of all the things that did run out around us, we could always find squids in the river…" Rythian supplied. "So Tee and I eat a lot of squid. Zo's a vegetarian."

I felt a bit sick, but got the feeling I had eaten worse. "This is cooked, right?"

"Of course not! The smoke attracts attention." Zoeya said, like this was a normal idea.

"Ugh." I muttered, but I took a bite anyways. It tasted like it looked. Rubbery and weird.

"You get used to it." Rythian told us, taking a bite of his own.

"Maybe."

"He's lying!" Toto piped up. This time, we all turned to him, even me, and said,

"Toto, shut up!"


End file.
